The present invention relates to an improved sanitary cover for the top of beverage cans provided with pull-type opening devices.
Metal cans as presently utilized for the packaging of beverages such as beer, carbonated drinks, and fruit and vegetable juices are generally comprised of a circular cylindrical sidewall, a bottom closure panel integral with said sidewall, and a top closure lid attached by a rolling and crimping technique to the upper extremity of the sidewall and thereby forming an upwardly and outwardly protruding perimeter bead or rim. Pull-type opening devices located within the lid are designed to create a pouring aperture. In preferred embodiments, the opening device is designed to remain a part of the can, thereby minimizing the littering problem caused when pull tabs are carelessly discarded.
In the course of the storage and shipment of canned beverages, the lid is susceptible to contamination with dirt, remains of liquid spills, animal residues, toxic inorganic substances, and pathogenic micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Such hygienically undesirable substances generally become concentrated within a depressed trough adjacent the rim produced by the crimping operation which attaches the lid to the sidewall. Proper cleaning of the lid prior to opening of the can is often overlooked. Even so, cleaning of the trough region is extremely difficult, and to make matters worse, the beverage during pouring will enter the trough and wash contaminents therefrom into the mainstream of the beverage. Accordingly, whether the consumer drinks the beverage by direct mouth contact with the lid or after pouring from the can, he is likely to ingest the aforementioned contaminants.
Prior efforts to overcome the aforementioned unsanitary aspects of beverage cans have involved protective coverings which are either expensive, difficult to use, separable from the can, and thereby constituting a litter problem, or not compatible with packaging of the cans in six-pak clusters and the stacking thereof.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sanitary protective covering for the top of a beverage-filled can having an aperture-generating pull tab and raised perimeter rim.
It is another object of this invention to provide a can having a sanitary covering as in the foregoing object.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a covering of the aforesaid nature which is inexpensive and easily manipulated to permit sanitary access to the beverage.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a covering of the aforesaid nature which remains attached to the can after it has served its intended purpose.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a covering of the aforesaid nature which allows stacking of said cans and packaging of the cans in six-pack clusters.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.